What is a entrepreneur?

First off, I do know its “an” entrepreneur… but since people search for it this way, I write it so they can find it.

Anyway, a entrepreneur is a person who starts a business and assumes all or some of the financial risks.

Normally, entrepreneurs are generally regarded as risk takers. They are people who typically are comfortable operating in uncertain environments where one does not have data for concrete planning. Instead, they rely on their skills and not least of all their intuition. I use the word “typically” since by the broad definition of the word, anyone who starts their own business qualifies.

A entrepreneur can be motivated by different things. Often, they are highly independent and want to be their own boss. They may also thrive on the thrill of the uncertain environment or like the idea of building something from the ground up.

In large businesses, one often finds people with entrepreneurial characteristics used to open new markets. In a well-known business case, when KFC entered the Japanese market they relied on one of their most entrepreneurial managers (in this case the word refers to the entrepreneurial spirit of risk taking and independence since presumably there was no personal financial risk).

Interestingly, the skills that make a successful entrepreneur do not necessarily make that same person into a great manager once the firm starts to grow. The entrepreneur is not necessarily very skilled at the more methodical planning that is a part of normal business life, and the tedious management of people and processes. In the KFC case, the same manager was later unsuited to run the division once the company was established and had to be replaced.

Some of the most famous entrepreneurs whose companies grew to be major players in their industry include Henry Ford, Bill Gates, Hugh Hefner, and Donald Trump.

In our society, entrepreneurs are considered to be a vital part of our economy. There are many reasons for this including the fact that entrepreneurs tend to move into unexplored niches, thereby satisfying an existing consumer need; they are often innovative, introducing revolutionary processes, technologies, and so on; and they keep larger enterprises on their toes through the threat of cutting into their business whenever they become inefficient.

In any case, the answer to “what is a entrepreneur?” is: a business owner who assumes financial risk and who is typically (but not necessarily) an independent risk taker who has faith in his intuition and thrives on operating in uncertain environments.